Date Thoughts

As I told you guys, I went on a date yesterday and I’m sure you are all now at the edge of your seats waiting to hear how it went. I figured I would recap it with some of the highlights of the night and then include some retrospective thoughts.

-We saw each other said hi and then first question: “ok, how do you say your name?” Just like I thought. Asked how her day has been and the ride over, which immediately led to a, “how about you? How was your ride?” so I had to explain the whole car situation. I think she was a little bit weirded out but I made amends later on.

-We went bowling at this place called Shatto 39 lanes. The place is freaking huge! There are a bunch of bowling lanes that are still pretty old school so no crazy animations after hitting a strike or the bowling ball magically coming up from under the ground. Fuck I’m pretty sure there were kids working behind the lanes setting up our pins (tried that joke, let’s just say it went in the gutter).

-I was wondering how the whole conversation while playing thing was going to work but it naturally defaulted to both of us standing next to where the balls sit and we would talk in between shots, sometimes for 5-10 mins at a time.

-Had originally bought one game for each but that quickly turned to two. We kept talking and playing (I won both games easily) and after 2 hours it was time to go.  At this point, the conversations were mostly about what we do for work, where we have traveled, and family. Nothing crazy, just getting to know each other’s backgrounds.

-As we are leaving the place, I suggest to go out to dinner. She accepts (strike!). I had looked up a few places around the area and we decided to check out this small Korean bar/restaurant that got really good reviews on Yelp.

-We walk on over, talk and shit until we get to the place. Now the door to this place is wooden and broken down so I was kind of hesistant to go in because sometimes these places can be intimidating to eat in if you are not the right race. She decides to go in to check it out and if it ain’t for us we would leave. We walk in, a waitress immediately asks “How many people?” She responds, “Two” and now we are in for a ride (spare).

-The place was actually really cool looking inside with all wooden bars, chairs, and tables. The walls were covered in doodles and writing by what I’m guessing were previous guests. Very cozy and tight but the whole language barrier was tough at points.

-We wanted beers, but on the menu it only mentioned “small” and “large” without a list to select from. We decided to go with two large beers. The menu was overwhelming with a huge amounts of different plates of which most I didn’t even know.

-It got octopus, she got some ramen. They were both spicy, but mine was very spicy. I had an empty stomach, so the spice combined with the beers (which ended up being pints of hite) was not the greatest mix.

-We get to talking, the food is great, we are having a good time but the waitress never comes back to check on us. The only thing to do was to keep talking.

-I had two kind of stumbles. One was when I made a borderline racist remark about how finally there were a couple of white people joining us at this restaurant. She didn’t hear what I said though but I think the people next to me did. This one guy (I don’t like to stereotype or judge but I’m thinking he was of an Asian race) was just staring at me while the girl was asking me to repeat what I said. I couldn’t repeat what I said with those knives looking at me so all I could say was nevermind.

-Once the fellow stopped looking over, I told her that I said something that didn’t come out the way I planned and couldn’t repeat it because of the people next to us.

-My other stumble happened when I was telling a great story and was getting very animated. My hands were flailing a bit and my right one kind of slammed down on the table. The only thing was that before it hit the table, a chopstick got caught on the way. Simple physics made the sauce covered chopstick fly into the air, spew the sauce on us and land about 5 feet away from our table. I apologized a lot. She was cool.

-Then I learned she smoked (YEY!). We told each other some high stories, some good and some bad. It was all great though. Then somehow the Christmas album came up and she mentioned that she also made a Christmas album with her friends. Wild coincidence! Can’t wait to show her it! 

-After 2.5 hours, I didn’t want to call for the bill and make her fee like I wanted to get the fuck out but I thought it needed to be ended before it got awkward (I think I timed it right) (Hit the 7-9 split).

-Got the bill, paid (it was an expensive date but hopefully it was worth it), and then walked her to her car. Mentioned that I had a good time and we should do this again, we hugged and then she headed out. She also offered a ride, I don’t know if I should have taken it, but I declined (Field goal! (Bowling term)).

Looking back on it: Overall it was a 5+ hour date that went pretty well. Now what I can’t stop thinking about is whether I’ve gotten to the point where I want some sort of relationship with a girl so bad that I’m willing to sacrifice some things for it. Meaning, am I subconsciously just playing a game to win the trophy or am I actually doing this because I’m enjoying the ride. Nam saying? Or are my expectations for a first date way too high and I'm searching for something that is not there? Again, I thought it went great. We got along and everything but I don’t know.

TL:DR: I talked to a girl for a long time (perfect game).